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Show Statesman Sports Page 10 Monday, April 5, 2010 Women's tennis goes 1-2 during weekend at San Jose By KAYLA CLARK staff writer USU women's tennis fell in its first match in Santa Clara, Calif. The girls went on to play two matches Friday, against Hawaii and San Jose State, both Western Athletic Conference matches, before their return home. All matches were held in the Spartan Tennis Complex in San Jose, Calif. The Ags dropped the match against Santa Clara for a final score of 6-1, with an isolated win at the No. 3-singles position. "It was a good match and warmed us up for the upcoming conference matches," said head coach Christian Wright. "We had some chances, but we lost them." He said he understood then that play was going to be a challenge, noting that a lot of the teams USU went up against were nationally ranked. Junior Hayley Swenson, at the No. 1 position, battled through three sets to lose to Kelly Lamble of SCU, 6-7, 6-4, 10-8. Freshman Jaclyn West fell to Alex Zaniewski at the No. 2 spot, after a three-set match, as well, 6 7, 7 5, 10-3. Freshman Kristina Voytsekhovich, at No. 3, played three sets, but with a victorious outcome. She beat Kacie Wagner, 6-4, 5-7, 10-8, for Utah State's only point of the match. Sophomore Monica Abella was defeated by SCU's Maggie McGeorge, 6-3, 6-1, at the No. 4 position, and junior Taylor Perry fell 6-1, 6-2 to Jessica Agra. Senior Brittany Watts finished up singles action, dropping the No. 6 point to Carmen Pham, 6-2, 6-2. USU claimed a win at the No. 1 doubles position, but dropped the doubles point with losses at the No. 2 and 3 positions. West and Swenson slid by Wagner and Cox, 8-7, while Perry and Voytsekhovich dropped the No. 2 win to Lamble and McGeorge, 8-6. Abella and Watts, at No. 3, wrapped it up with a loss to Agra and Pham, 8-0. "We will come out tomorrow and do the same thing. We haven't played any conference teams yet, and we're ready to take on the competition," said Wright after Thursday's match. "Overall, though, I was pleased with the way they played." Play began on Friday with a loss to Hawaii, 6-1. Swenson fell in a close match to opponent Katarina Poljakova, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, at the No. - - 1 position. At No. 2, West was defeated by Sophie Kobuch, 7-6, 6-3, and Voytsekhovich, at No. 3, lost to UH's Barbara Pinterova, 6-0, 6-0. At No. 4, Abella fell to Aglae Van den Bergh, for a final score of 6-1, 6-3, and Perry lost to Natasha Zorec, 6-1, 6-3. Watts boasts the only victory of the match, finishing out singles action with a win over Alyssa Nafarrete. They retired after one set, for a final score of 3-6. Doubles was a clean sweep for UH, who won in all three positions for the point. Swenson and West headed the action out with a loss at the No. 1 position. They were defeated by Kobuch and Poljakova, 8-6. Voytsekhovich and Perry were up next in the No. 2 position, falling to Pinterova and Alyssa Nafarrete, 8-1. Abella and Watts finished the match with a loss at No. 3, surrendering to Van den Bergh and Gobel, 8-3. The next match of the day brought a more victorious outcome: Utah State finishing up with 6 points, San Jose State only grabbing 1. Swenson started out singles action with a win over Olivia Marshall, 6-1, 6-0. West defeated Chau Truong at the No. 2 spot, 7-6, 6-1, and Voytsekhovich defeated Anna Guzman, 6-2, 7-5, at No. 3. The No. 4 point was claimed by Abella, who beat SJSU's Kerri Kummer, 6-4, 6-1. Taylor Perry proved victorious over Sandra Florea, 7-6, 6-4. Watts, however, fell to San Jose's Jennifer Williams at No. 6, losing 6-3, 6-1. The doubles point was stolen by USU with wins in the No. 1 and 2 positions. Swenson and West swept over Kummer and Florea, for a score of 9-7. Voytsekhovich and Abella, at No. 2, defeated Marshall and Williams with a score of 8-6, while Perry and Watts fell to Guzman and Truong, 8-2. Wright noted that the teams they played were of sizeable competition, saying that the girls were up against "seasoned" teams, but that the girls always do their best. "I am always proud of their performance and always have high expectations for them," Wright said. "I expect them to go on and continue to play with intensity and win more of their matches." The Ags now have a 7-7 season record, and are 1-1 in WAC play. Monday, April 5, marks the girls' return home, and they will face off with Arizona on April 5. kayla.clark@aggiemall.usu.edu — JUNIOR TAYLOR PERRY and the rest of the USU women's tennis team went 1-2 this past weekend against Santa Clara, Hawaii and San Jose State. CODY GOCHNOUR photo Track has strong showing at BYU Invitational meet By TYREL SKINNER staff writer The USU track and field team had hot performances at a bitter-cold BYU Cougar Invitational outdoor track meet last weekend. The team traveled to Provo on Friday and performed against five other teams, including WAC conference rival Southern Utah University. The Aggies' second full-team competition of the year ended with a strong showing from many of the athletes. The temperature, which only rose to a high windy 52 degrees on Friday, was clearly not a big factor as the team was able to claim three titles, eight second places and a total of 18 top-three places for the meet. Those who performed well for the women's team included freshman Aubrie Haymore. She ran well with a time of 56.56 seconds in the 400-meter event. This was good enough to give her a second-place finish and a personal record. Senior Elaine Connolly also had a good performance in the 800 meter, with a time of 2:12.82, picking up another second-place finish. Freshman team- mate Jessie Chugg also finished well in the 800 meter, with a fourth-place finish and a time of 2:15.72 seconds. The Aggies had many runners competing in the 3000m steeple chase, and were able to capture second place through seventh place. This was the first time that freshmen Stephanie Burt, Hazel Richardson and Jessi Timothy, and redshirt freshman Julia Johnson were able to compete in the steeple chase on a collegiate level. Richardson and Timothy tabbed sixth and seventh place, respectively, and Julia Johnson was able to finish in fifth with a time of 12:32.67. In fourth was junior Justine Bough, who finished with a time of 12:09.30. Freshman Stephanie Burt had a time of 11:40.60 and finished her third. It was also junior Alicia Holt's first time at running the steeple chase in college. She finished in second place with a time of 11:24.32, just under three seconds off of first place Loren Storey from Weber State. Utah State competed well in the field events as well. Freshman Bri Campbell finished fourth place in the high jump, with a heigth of 1.6m. In the triple jump, freshman Shalyse Olsen jumped for a distance of 10.51 meters, placing fifth. Sophomore pole vaulter Sonia Grabowski cleared a height of 3.65 meters and finished in second place. Her teammate, freshman Amber Thompson placed fifth in the event, with a height of 3.20 meters. Junior Shannon Prince had a good weekend, placing in two throwing events. She placed fifth in the shot put with a distance of 13.60 meters. She also dominated the discus throw, with a distance of 47.80 meters, almost three meters farther than the competition. The Aggie men also had an impressive track meet, performing well in many events. Junior Armand Lewis finished in third place in the 100-meter event, with a time of 10.81 seconds. Teammate Mike Pyrtle finished second in the event, with a time of 10.67 seconds. Both Lewis and Pyrtle were members of the men's 4-by-100 relay team, along with freshman Matt Maughan and sophomore Dylan Nielson. Pyrtle was the last leg of the team and had an impressive performance to give them a comeback win from behind, with a time of 41.60 seconds. Senior Nick Karen placed second in the 400 hurdles, with a time of 52.69 seconds. Sophomore Eric Larsen had a time of 1:53.78 and finished third in the 800m event. Freshman teammate Briton Page also placed well in that event, with a time of 1:55.02 and a fifth-place finish. Senior Steve Strickland placed third in the 1500m event, with a time of 3:53.25 seconds. Sophomore Steve Atkinson placed fourth in the men's 3000m steeple chase, with a time of 9:47.76, followed by sophomore teammate Aaron Clements, who finished fifth with a time of 9:48.08. The USU men competed well in the field events as well, with many high place finishes. In the high jump, junior Clint Silcock had an impressive finish, clearing a height of 2.17m, giving him a first-place finish. Senior Casey Parker also did well in the event, placing third with a height of 2.05 meters. Freshman Damion Szade placed second in the long jump, with a distance of 6.93 meters. Szade also finished well in the triple jump, with a distance of 14.00m, giving him fourth place. In the throwing events, sophomore Daniel Cruz placed well in the discus throw, with a fourth-place finish and a distance of 47.48m. He also did well in the hammer throw, placing third, with a distance of 51.75m. Freshman teammate Spencer Hall also competed well in both of those events. In the hammer throw, Hall placed sixth, with a distance of 45.19m, and in the discus, he threw 46.76m, which placed him fifth. Utah State also had two placers in the javelin event. Junior Alex DuPlesis finished in fourth place with a distance of 54.78 meters, and sophomore teammate Jaymin Vickers came in third, with a distance of 55.29 meters. In the shot put, junior Joe Canavan finished in second place, with a distance of 17.48 meters. The Aggies will compete, again, next weekend, when they travel to a hopefully warmer Los Angeles, Calif., for a three-day meet at UCLA Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational. t.g.s@aggiemail.usu.edu — USU football team making local impact off the field BY USU ATHLETICS Utah State football has been busy off the field during the offseason with community service, as they recently topped the 300-hour mark of service throughout the community. Members of the team have worked with community members both young and old, from working at elementary schools to helping elderly community move. Players have done work to help both near and far, by helping on campus with the College High School Aggies Mentorship Program (CHAMP), and participating in the "Adopt A Soldier" program, sending care packages from the whole team to soldiers overseas. "When I was a kid, I always loved when athletes would come to my school to talk to us and spend time with us. It really taught me to focus on my goals and realize that I can achieve anything I try to do, so I just wanted to give that back to the kids in our community," said senior offensive lineman Spencer Johnson, a broadcast journalism major from Lancaster, Calif. Johnson was one of the primary volunteers, speaking to Bridger Elementary students about goals and success, among his many other volunteer projects. "I just want to give back to this community, to Logan, Cache Valley and the University," Johnson said. "This community has given us so much more than we could have ever expected, we're just trying to show our appreciation by giving back." Other community service projects include collecting pop tops for the Ronald McDonald House, "Stuff A Bus" Program, "Quality Youth Services" Program, Bear River Head Start Program, as well as help- ing work at IHOP. Players also helped work at the Junction and HUB in addition to a career fair and working with Kappa Delta Sorority on campus. "I feel that helping the community is important because they give so much to us when they come to our games. They buy tickets and so much more to support the program, that by helping the community is just a small token of our appreciation for all their support," said senior safety Rajric Coleman, who is majoring in criminal justice with a minor in education, and is from Litchfield Park, Ariz. One of Coleman's many projects was mentoring youth in the "Quality Youth Services" program, which he did activities including tutoring, talking with youth and taking them to events like Utah State basketball games. "I really liked one of the projects that I did for my community service in helping out with delinquent kids. If being a positive influence on these kids can keep them out of trouble, then I feel that I have done something to help make them a better person and help make this community a better place," Coleman said. Members of the football team have also helped clean the weight room and academic center. "We want our players to be active and give back to this community as a very small thank you for all the support that we get from this terrific community that we are fortunate to be part of," USU head coach Gary Andersen said. "These community service projects are equally beneficial to our team in that it enhances their values of hard work, cooperation and teamwork that they learn and use on the football field and are applicable to everyday life." |